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Canisius University Athletics

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Hudston Lambert skates the puck up ice during Canisius' contest against Niagara at the LECOM Harborcenter on Nov. 15 2019
Dean Bogart
5
Winner Niagara NIA 1-8-1 (1-4-1 AHA)
3
Canisius CAN 2-7-0 (1-3-0 AHA)
Winner
Niagara NIA
1-8-1 (1-4-1 AHA)
5
Final
3
Canisius CAN
2-7-0 (1-3-0 AHA)
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 3 F
Niagara NIA 2 2 1 5
Canisius CAN 1 2 0 3

Game Recap: Ice Hockey |

Hockey Settles for Series Split Versus Niagara

Ryan Naumovski dished out five assists to guide Niagara to a 5-3 victory over Canisius in Atlantic Hockey Association action Saturday at KeyBank Rink at LECOM Harborcenter.
 
Jack Billings and Luke Edgerton recorded a goal and an assist each while Eric Cooley, Justin Kendall and Brandon Stanley also scored for the Purple Eagles (1-8-1, 1-4-1 AHA), who picked up their first victory of the season with Saturday's triumph.
 
Senior Nick Hutchison scored twice and freshman Simon Gravel accounted for the third Golden Griffins' (2-7-0, 1-3-0 AHA) goal, all of which came while Canisius was on the power play.
 
Edgerton opened the scoring just past the seven-minute mark of the first period, putting home a loose puck from just off the right post after Jared Brandt's initial attempt was turned aside by Canisius goaltender Matt Ladd.
 
Gravel tied the game at 1-1 less than five minutes later as he re-directed a point shot off the stick of junior Logan Gestro past the glove of Niagara goaltender Brian Wilson from the middle of the slot.
 
Cooley restored the Purple Eagles' lead at the 13:52 mark of the opening frame with a power-play goal, depositing a backdoor feed from Billings to give Niagara a 2-1 advantage.
 
The teams traded goals during a back-and-forth second period as Stanley expanded the Purple Eagles' lead to 3-1 just 1:12 into the middle frame on a wrist shot from close range before Canisius answered with a pair of power-play tallies from Hutchison less than two minutes apart to knot the score at 3-3 just before the midway point of the contest.
 
Hutchison's first of the game came at the 7:08 mark of the second when he fired home a loose puck from the middle of the slot before the Hicksville, N.Y., product notched his second of the frame just six seconds into the Griffs' next man-advantage opportunity, finishing off a tic-tac-toe passing sequence with a shot past Wilson from the bottom of the right face-off circle.
 
Billings gave Niagara its third and final lead of the contest with 11:52 elapsed in the middle frame, putting home a rebound from just off the left post while the Purple Eagles were on the power play to make it a 4-3 contest.
 
Niagara was able to maintain its one-goal advantage until the final 10 seconds of regulation, when Kendall notched an empty-net marker to determine the final margin.
 
Wilson finished with 34 saves between the pipes for Niagara while Ladd recorded 25 stops in goal for Canisius.
 
Head Coach Trevor Large's Postgame Comments
"It was a different hockey game than last night. Tonight, it seemed to be a power-play battle and they got a 5-on-5 goal and an empty netter on top of that to get the win. I'm proud of the effort tonight. We had some moments where we played really well. Our power play was really clicking tonight. We were unable to get the result that we wanted, but whether we do win or not, its lesson learned. We need to look at the film and figure out a way to score more at 5-on-5. I'm happy for the power play, but we can't live and die by them. We need to get some more 5-on-5 chances and goals.
 
"We spent a lot of time on the structure of what we want to do on the power play. That helps. But, tonight was a showcase of skill and ability. There were some structure things that they were doing in passing properly and creating space for each other and then it was individual efforts by all of them: (Nick) Hutchison, (Matt) Hoover, (Matt) Stief, (Austin) Alger and (Lee) Lapid. They got something going. So, it's nice as a coach when you can see what they are doing inside of the structure you're laying out for them and seeing them going out and getting it done when it's time for them to perform on the power play and make a skilled play when it's needed.
 
"I really liked us for the first 15 minutes of the third period. We were on them and pressuring. I felt we deserved a power play or two, but we were unable to get those, not that you need those. But the last five minutes, Niagara did a good job of getting in our end and not allowing us to get any momentum. We were able to get the goalie pulled and get some pressure. You need to be playing inside their guys and getting shots on net and making their goalie battle. We were okay at it. We were there around it, but obviously it wasn't enough to get the goal we needed tonight."
 
Game Notes
• Canisius out-shot Niagara by a 37-30 margin for the contest, highlighted by a 28-20 edge over the final two periods.
• The Griffs were a perfect 3-for-3 on the power play as it tallied three or more power-play goals in a game for the first time since scoring four with the man advantage in a 6-3 victory over Clarkson on Nov. 10, 2018. Niagara was 2-for-3 on the power play on Saturday.
• Freshman Hudson Lambert recorded his first collegiate point with an assist on Gravel's first-period tally.
• Gravel extended his point-scoring streak to four games with his first-period goal on Saturday. He has four points (2g, 2a) in that span.
• With his two power-play goals on Saturday, Hutchison moved into a tie for third place on the program's Division I era chart for career power-play goals with 22. His two-goal effort also moved him into sole possession of seventh place on the program's Division I era chart for career goals with 45.
• Hutchison tallied multiple goals in a game for the 10th time in his career while junior Austin Alger dished out multiple assists for the fifth time in his collegiate career.
 
Up Next
• Canisius finishes out its non-conference schedule Nov. 23 with the second half of a home-and-home series versus ECAC Hockey opponent RPI.
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